Art Deco Inspired Nails

Hello everyone! How have you been?

Whenever I do my nails, there are a few considerations that come into play and the weather is usually one of them lol.  In London we’ve been going through a moody shift between bright sunshine and epic down pours, which has taken a lot of the fun out of Spring.  So I decided to tone everything back and pull out the neutrals, with a bit of nail art of course to liven it up.

I thought back to my Great Gatsby nails and wanted to something similar with an Art Deco feel.  The base uses Models Own Nude Beige – an absolute classic and effortlessly feminine.

Originally I was going to paint my nails white and then paint the other colours on top but I quickly thought against that because that many layers with white would be a nightmare.

Instead I started with a semi-circle of white at the cuticle, leaving the rest of my nail bare.  Then I painted two coats of Nude Beige up to the top of the semi circle and the rest of my nail.  Painting this way was slightly more difficult as you had to pay attention to keeping the line neat and consistency of the base even.  But it was worth it to avoid thick layers.

The black section was mostly done freehand, using the brush from the bottle in a sweeping movement.  It was easier to go from one side and stop in the middle and then sweep from the other side.  Any parts that weren’t neat were corrected with a striper brush.

Afterwards, I added top coat but used a dabbing motion over the black and the white to stop it from smudging and then painted in a downward stroke where Nude Beige began to the free edge.  It’ll be nice to go back to brighter colours soon, but for now I’m enjoying the resurgence of neutrals!